One aspect of the present disclosure is directed towards a new film forming paint that Bragg diffracts light in the visible and NIR spectral regions. The paint may be comprised of highly charged polymer spheres that self assemble and maintain their diffraction in the presence of the different ingredients of the paint formulation, so that the self assembled arrays diffract light in both wet and dry states. Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a process for making highly charged polymeric spheres. Another aspect of the present invention is directed to the highly charged polymeric spheres themselves. The high surface charge density of the spheres enables the stability and self assembly of the spheres in the presence of the other paint ingredients. These spheres can find useful practical applications in paints, inks, coatings, cosmetics and light filtering applications. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims.